EYEZ on Education

Currently I am taking a Sociology class at San Jose State. Education in Society is a very interesting class, as we get to explore questions about education that we never considered to be problematic. Do all students get an equal opportunity in education? The answer that I have considered is , no. Depending on where you live and what school district you are in, determines what level of education you will receive. Better school districts are obviously in the better and richer neighborhoods. In such schools parents pledge money to these schools in large amounts in order for the school to have extra circular activities, such as music and sports. While the parents of the poor school districts cannot afford to pledge money to their schools because of their financial situation. Thus, the poor school districts cannot have extra programs for their students. Richer schools have more utilities and resources that they can give to their students, which helps and enables these students to prosper in the future.
Further, at the college level is the education level the same for every student regardless of what school they go to? The answer is actually yes. All colleges, give or take teach the students the same amount of things regardless of what school you attend. However, prestigious schools like Stanford and UC Berkley can provide something more then education, these schools can give their students status. We as a society legitimatize major institutions like Berkeley because of their name. If a college students graduates from San Jose State compared to UC Berkley, the student from UC Berkley will most likely get the job because of the name of the college he attends. Employers want to be proud and say, yes we employ graduates form Berkeley and Standford, not mediocre schools like San Jose Sate. However, in reality the education that both students received is probably equivalent, but the status and prestige of ones school can be the dominating factor in employment. With considering inequalities of this nature, can we as society really say that are education system is truly fair and equal? After taking this class, it has made me speculate the accuracy of this notion. People say no matter what you do, as along as you have an education you can become successful. However, in my opinion the saying should go like this, no matter what school you got to,the only sure way to know that you will be successful is to go to certain prestigious schools like Stanford and Berkeley.